Matt Steinmetz

Doug Christie was an integral member of the terrific Sacramento Kings teams of the 2000 era. He was one of the NBA’s premier wing defenders, and he also had the ability to bring the ball upcourt and run an offense. Nice passer, too.

Those Kings — which also featured Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Chris Webber and Vlade Divac, among others – were one of the greatest passing teams of all time. Their ball movement, like that of the Warriors, could be spectacular. Christie, who was first team All-Defense in 2002-03 and second team All-Defense three other times, no doubt would have had to guard Stephen Curry in any mythical matchup of the old Kings vs. the now Warriors.

The teams also share another commonality: A truly great frontcourt passing tandem. In the Kings’ case, it was Webber and Divac. For the Warriors, it’s Draymond Green and Andrew Bogut. In other words, there was tons to talk about with Christie, who joined the “NBA This Week” on 95.7 FM-The Game and talked a lot of Warriors, and what makes them so special.

Here’s a portion of that interview. Link at bottom:

–On frontcourt passing of Webber/Divac and Green/Bogut:

–Christie: “It’s a joke. It’s one of the hardest things (to defend) of all time because big guys aren’t prepared to defend passers. Their hands aren’t ready. A lot of Draymond, Vlade, Chris, Bogut’s passes are bounce passes. They put them down by a big guy’s feet. And it makes the guards and wing players want to cut. It’s a novel idea that if you cut you actually get the ball back. You’re going to cut harder. You’re going to set picks for your teammates. It’s an absolute nightmare for the defense to stop slice cuts and back picks and have a big guy actually looking for teammates.”

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